Bad Axe City Council discusses acquiring undisclosed property

Published 3:29 pm, Friday, April 22, 2016

BAD AXE— Council was mum following a closed meeting held Monday to discuss the possible purchase or gifting of an undisclosed property.

A special meeting of the Bad Axe City Council was held at 5:05 p.m. Monday, and the board went into closed session shortly after the meeting was called to order.

About a half hour later, the board reconvened into open session and no details of the possible purchase were discussed.

Five of the seven council members were present, including the mayor. Councilman Jim Hicks and Councilwoman Kathleen Particka were absent.

After the meeting was adjourned, Mayor Bill Cleland said a party approached the city about a month and a half ago and was interested in gifting the property (of which no details have been disclosed) to the city.

“It’s a sign of the economic times when companies want to give away property instead of selling it,” he said.

Cleland said council needed time to digest the offer, and he has no idea when the matter will be discussed publicly.

City Manager John Nugent said he asked council to meet and discuss the possible purchase/gifting because he had been in communication with the interested party. He said he wanted to know if council felt if he should continue pursuing the matter.

The board’s decision Monday was to have Nugent maintain dialogue with the party (whose identity has not been disclosed) with the understanding that council needs more time to determine whether or not to make any kind of agreement.

Earlier this month, council accepted a roughly $600,000 gift to the city in the form of the former Davenport University land and buildings, and agreed to pay the donors $100,000 in consulting fees over the next 10 years.

Officials said it is the city’s intent to sell the gifted property.

Nugent said Monday the city has been in contact with parties interested in purchasing the property, and the city is hopeful a deal will be reached.

“So far so good,” he said.

Cleland said there’s not much of a difference between that gifting and the would-be gifting of the property discussed Monday.

Nugent noted the major difference between the two is that the Davenport building is move-in ready, and the property discussed Monday is not.

“It would require investment and more cost for someone to move in to it,” he said.

Council’s next regular meeting is set at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3 at City Hall.